The Tools of the Trade
Photo: John Bogna / Unsplash
Walk past a potter’s bench and you’ll see a modest, well-worn collection: wooden ribs for shaping walls, metal kidneys for smoothing, wire for cutting pots free of the wheel, sponges, needles and a few trimming loops. Many makers prize a handful of favourite tools they’ve used for years.
Yet the most important tools are never on the bench. They are the maker’s hands — sensitive enough to feel a wall thin to the right thickness, steady enough to guide a handle, strong enough to centre a stubborn lump of clay.
This is part of what makes pottery such a powerful craft to teach. It needs little equipment and no expensive machinery — only good clay, a few simple tools, and a person willing to learn.
